Tethered
by DHeiress88
Summary: "…Your arm's telling him where we are. I'll slice it off for you…!" And so, Tyki did. Mercilessly, viciously, and oh so bloodily. But the stupid Innocence remained. Moreover, it shackled Tyki to Allen as a punishment.
1. Mistake a Change

-Tethered-

-By: DeathHeiress88-

Summary: "…Your arm's telling him where we are. I'll slice it off for you…!" And so, Tyki did. Mercilessly, viciously, and oh so bloodily. But the stupid Innocence remained. Moreover, it shackled Tyki to Allen as a punishment.

Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine. Only writing for fun.

Warning: I recommend reading first the preceding manga chapters of DGM before reading this fic, because you'll have a little difficulty in understanding what is happening. Spoilers up to chapter 205! And some things that aren't just for kids, so please beware!

* * *

><p>One mistake<p>

Is all it take

One weakening

To do the failing

* * *

><p><strong>Mistake<strong>

* * *

><p>They laid Road under the untainted white moon.<p>

"Why won't she wake up? Innocence attacks don't affect Road, right?"

Tyki narrowed his eyes at the Ninth, wondering what happened but not that overly concerned. His Genes are not crying, Road's 'dreams' have just broken. It's nothing to worry about, it happened before…but…

He sighed and looked at the other way.

"Don't look at me. It might be that the damage goes as deep as the Noah memory."

Tyki paused as he tried to explain the situation in a way that the exorcist-turned-Noah or Noah-turned exorcist, whatever the case may be, could understand.

"It seems that Apocryphos is on a whole other level than all of your Innocences."

The Portuguese watched Allen Walker's distraught face and his fists involuntarily clenched. "Shit, we can't use Road's doors…"

The boy exclaimed something under his breath, and based on his reaction Tyki assumed he didn't sense the presences sent after them.

Tyki inwardly sighed at their predicament. He quickly unraveled his simple (quite _too _simple) plan to the cheating boy. Not checking whether he was understood, or even _heard, _he thrust the Noah of Dreams into the younger one's arms.

"It's decided. Here's Road."

"HUH? YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING! WHY ME?"

The teenager spluttered indignantly; a red flush of anger , which in other circumstances would amuse Tyki, splashing across his scarred cheeks.

Tyki would have replied that he need to take the gigantic golem (how did this golden ball even managed to grow?) and protect both of them while running if not for the sudden scream that tore out the boy's throat.

"Hey! Cut it out!"

He heard the boy snap at his arm. Tyki's eyes widened as he saw the Innocence go berserk, in an instant he was beside the boy. He pushed Road's body aside; pinning down the Innocence-laden arm harshly, not caring at all if he broke it.

"What the hell are you doing, you idiot? Stop it!"

"Shut up! Don't touch me!"

Tyki gritted his teeth in frustration. The boy was still struggling stubbornly. This obstinacy would have charmed Tyki if only it was exhibited in a situation where no fucking Apocryphos was on their tail.

Not to mention the lack of foolproof plans to escape this place.

Fuck it.

"It's not responding…I can't stop it…!" The teen bellowed more to himself than to Tyki.

Suddenly, Tyki felt a tug coming from the Innocence. His eyebrows furrowed, what's this? A random reaction of Innocence to his Noah genes? But as Allen Walker stop struggling, abruptly staring at the darkness ahead of them, Tyki realized the problem.

The Innocence was not tugging _at _him. It wasn't for him, it was for—

"Apocryphos…!" The reluctant boy in his arm breathed out.

The questionable pieces clicked into a pattern and a dangerous plan was formed in Tyki's mind.

"…Your arm's telling him where we are!"

He buried his chin into silver-white hair as he leaned closer onto the quaking body of the Fourteenth's 'host'. The Noah of Pleasure gripped the arm that he had once ripped apart savagely.

He whispered into the boy's ear.

"I'll slice it off for you…!"

And so he did.

Mercilessly.

Viciously.

Bloodily.

Just like how he did it the first time.

* * *

><p>Red.<p>

Allen's world was then tainted red.

He could no longer discern the Apocryphos' voice beckoning him. He could no longer feel Tyki Mikk's body against him. He could no longer see Road's body that lay beside Tim.

He could only focus on the pain.

And the word that rang in his mind before his arm was cleaved off.

Both of them sat there on the forest floor under the canopy of trees, blanketed by stark silence. One panting from shock, the other trying to endure the pain.

Which quickly diminished, as if there was none from the start.

Allen's eyes opened in surprise and he gaped in further surprise at the sight of his arm.

Attached.

Intact.

'_Wh…what?'_

He was sure that it was cut off!

Bloody hell, he _felt _it beingcut off!

He even saw the blood!

…Or did he really?

Instead of a severed, bloodied arm, what he saw was just his arm. Just the arm that had killed so many. Just the arm that had caused his suffering from the start.

"How…?"

"My sentiments exactly." The vibrations that passed through Allen's back reminded him how _close _he was to Tyki Mikk. How close he was to the person that had tried to rip his limb from his body.

Twice.

He wrenched himself from the other's grip and backed away as far as possible. There was an unreadable expression on the Noah's face, but to Allen's chagrin, it was replaced by a cool mask of indifference.

He started to tell the Noah to keep the bloody hell away from him or better to go the fuck away completely. But he never managed it.

In a black and white blur, the Noah of Pleasure grabbed him at the waist and hurled both of them forwards. Allen's back met Timcanpy's side, his left shoulder colliding with Road's lithe ones.

"What—!"

But then, the Noah was gone.

Allen's mind was in a state of stupor, for some reason, the boy could not grasp the situation. He had been eating…Food delivered by Link…The Cardinal arriving…Link's eyes bursting with wings…

His Master's killer…

His arm…

Allen's right hand automatically moved to his left arm, assuring his self that it was not gone. Then, Allen felt it.

The change in his Innocence.

The teen looked at his arm, stupefied by the coldness of it. No longer was the comforting warmth he was used to, in its stead was aloofness, unresponsiveness to Allen's touch.

Allen bit his lip as he remembered the word that rang in his mind just before Tyki 'cut' his arm. He bit his lip, knowing that it was his Innocence talking to him.

And he knew that it is true.

_Because deep in my heart I wanted everything to end, I just want to rest. I just want… just…_

Because you see, when the Noah of Pleasure made a move to separate him from his arm, it wasn't 'Allen couldn't move'.

It was 'Allen _didn't _move'.

"_TRAITOR."_

* * *

><p>One will change<p>

To unknown range

His bonds will break

As another he make

* * *

><p><strong>Change<strong>

* * *

><p>Something has changed.<p>

_Something _is _different._

It may be the feel of dead weight on his arm, yanking him back to where Road and the boy are. Or it could be the way his heart pumped a little faster than before. Or it could be the tears that threatened to fall out even if he doesn't even feel like crying.

But whatever that _something_ exactlyis, Tyki is sure it has something to do with the raging Apocryphos in front of him.

"What—what did you do to Allen Walker?"

Tyki stared warily at the seething Apocryphos. It was crouched down in pain. And maybe a large deal of anger.

"What did you do to Allen Walker?" It repeated, staggering backwards.

"Now, we cannot…I…he…can't—!"

The Noah narrowly avoided the fist that came pummeling down at his face. He tried to pull a similar act, hoping to catch the Innocence in surprise.

No such luck.

The Innocence ducked out of the way and sent a beam of light at Tyki.

Tyki doesn't know what that beam is but he knew that it would only spell trouble for him. He dodged it and launched a wave of Dark Matter at the Apocryphos, planning to use it as a diversion and hightail his way out this pinch.

To his surprise, it hit the independent Innocence square at the stomach.

Tyki stopped dead at his tracks, shortly frozen in shock. The Apocryphos was gasping, doubled in pain. It was wheezing something under its breath all the while glaring at Tyki.

"You…have ruined…Al…len…"

_The clue to the Heart, huh? I can't believe—_

The Portuguese's train of thought halted, quite surprised at the intensity of hate level at _him. _It was not the loathing shown at him and Road earlier, the hatred at them for being Noahs. It was something that runs deeper, something that is focused on Tyki _directly._

"I will retreat for now…But I will not allow you to corrupt him!"

The Apocryphos was slowly swallowed by the darkness, an exit quite unbefitting for something that should be _holy_. But his words continued echoing, vibrating over the faint sound of footsteps that signal the Order's exorcists. Tyki could only stare at the place where Innocence had laid, his brain befuddled at the events.

It was only after a minute or two that he remembered Road, of a large golden golem, of the white-haired teen that he hurled forward when he noticed the presence of the Apocryphos, and of the reason why he and Road had 'rescued' the boy.

He walked back where he left the First Child and 'The Fourteenth', unaware of a silver thread loosely binding his left arm.

Running through the forest, towards a certain white haired teen.

* * *

><p>Spring will be born<p>

But Winter won't be worn

Hark a new link

Born from exhaustion's brink

* * *

><p>I don't know if it's "The Apocryphos" or simply "Apocryphos", so anyone who is sure what is the more appropriate term, please do tell.<p>

I know that things are blurry right now, but please bear with it…Hopefully, next chapter will be more 'enlightening'…

XD

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	2. Bonded

-Tethered-

-By: DeathHeiress88-

Summary: Something strange happened, something that rendered Allen unable to part with a certain Noah.

Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine. Only writing for fun.

Warning: I recommend reading first the preceding manga chapters of DGM before reading this fic, because you'll have a little difficulty in understanding what is happening. Spoilers up to chapter 205! And some things that aren't just for kids, so please beware!

Thank you for your reviews : Fan, Lalala, Kithren, 100thAngel, The Puppeteer Master, Colonel Lazy, The Final Horseman and mychemicalbitchbot

Hahahaha, sorry, I forgot to say it last time but this will surely be an irregularly updated fic.

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><p>Within this world that is deranged<p>

With the one that is left estranged

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><p><strong>Bond<strong>

* * *

><p>Tyki couldn't completely say that he was surprised when the attack came jumping out behind the bushes.<p>

He ducked out of the kick's way, quickly whirling around to face his assailant, which was, no surprise there, the Fourteenth's host. Tyki prepared for an Innocence-filled attack but he met the young man's fist instead.

_Interesting, _Tyki thought as he dodged another physical attack from the boy. _I wonder why he doesn't use his Innocence? _he wondered when Allen Walker sent another punch at him. The boy didn't seem to be willed to a fight, it looked more like he was forced into moving, if Tyki was right to judge the boy's trembling as uncertainty.

"Why are you so angry, boy?"

He couldn't keep the taunting tone out of his voice just as the young man couldn't stop panting in exasperation.

"Why are you taking your frustrations out on me, boy?"

The said boy didn't answer, but silence was the answer Tyki was expecting. It means he was right, that he was being treated as the scapegoat.

Tyki wanted to laugh but instead found himself irritated and a bit…confused. He shrugged the thoughts away, and just moved closer to the young boy. He raised an eyebrow when the fugitive exorcist took a step back.

"You're afraid."

Tyki don't know whether the teen was consciously cupping his left arm or it was an unconscious gesture.

Hmm…

"You cannot use your Innocence, can you?"

He took a step forward. The other took another backward.

"You're the one that attacked me. So, why are you running now?"

Tyki saw the indecision in the young man's eyes. The fear. The confusion. The sense of powerlessness.

Tyki felt disgusted.

"Are you still hopelessly dependent on that thing?"

The boy gritted his teeth but he managed to spat out, "Stay away!"

Tyki harrumphed then sneered at the boy. Instead of staying away, he strode forward.

* * *

><p>Allen felt boiling anger as he watched the Noah approach him. He felt disgust at himself, for being helpless, for being powerless against the Noahs…and everything else. He gripped his left arm harder, aware that while it was still able to move, he cannot feel the Innocence residing there.<p>

_What did HE do to it?_

He resisted the urge to look down and cry, blinking away the tears of disappointment that welled against his will. He tried invoking it earlier, he tried to do it many times but his Innocence did not activate.

He felt worse than the time he thought he lost his Innocence forever. Worse than when he almost lose consciousness while summoning his Innocence back at the Asian Branch. It doesn't respond to him anymore.

But he cannot, don't want, to believe that his Innocence cut him off. Yes, he had a moment of weakness but…

"You're a terrible poker player, right now, shounen. I can tell what you're feeling."

Allen snapped up, unaware that he looked down and that the Noah of Pleasure was now a mere foot away. His knuckles tightened in agitation and he can't help but lash out. "What did you do to my Innocence?"

The older man raised an eyebrow, an act that was getting painfully familiar to Allen. He looked to be on verge of saying something but the set of footsteps that seem louder than before froze both of them.

The Order.

Allen saw the Noah narrowing his eyes before turning to the source of the noise.

"Tch. Oi, take Road and run. I'll take care of the exorcists." The Noah didn't glance at him when he addressed Allen, he continued looking out the vast darkness of the forest.

Allen felt a wave of tension coming out of the Noah and this in turn triggered Allen's anger. "I'm still one of those exorcists you need to take care of, you know." He snarled out, Allen could feel both their tempers rising, yet he did nothing to ease it.

Tyki Mikk smiled that damned smiled again, the one he used just before he ripped Allen's arm off. He pointed at Allen left hand and said in a deceptively sweet manner. "Shounen, you still call yourself an Exorcist even when _that _doesn't answer you? Even when you are obviously being hunted by them?"

Allen couldn't find any retort to that, the implications of what the Noah said echoing in his mind. His nails dug harder on his arm and his teeth gripped his lips tougher than necessary. He remained still as that even as the Noah slipped again through the darkness.

He stayed silent and unmoving, confused and bewildered, until a soft voice murmured.

"Don't let this hinder you. Don't stop. Keep walking. Just like what Neah told Mana."

Allen turned to Road, the familiar words shocking him out of his reverie. "Road, you're awake!" he said, startled. She didn't answer him for a moment, simply smiling at him. He stared at her, her broken smile touching something inside his heart.

"Neah…He fought for Mana…"

_Neah…Mana's younger brother…_

_The brother that Mana keeps looking for…_

_The brother he erased from Mana's memory…_

_The brother that's supposed to erode him in time._

"It's…a sec—secret…o…kay…?"

Allen stood shock-still as he watched light enfold Road's little body. Her words rang within his ears, her image, battered and weak, so unlike the Road he knew, burned on his eyes. She slowly dissolved into masses of white light, like a dream slowly fading away. She was completely gone, too late, when he had enough sense to stop her from disappearing.

His hand grasped at nothing, like a fool seizing a fantasy that was already worn from too much envisioning.

Allen stood there, amidst molten emotions and the hovering darkness, clasping air as he wondered what he should he do, unaware of the thin silver cord around his left arm.

* * *

><p>The guilt and confusion creeps in<p>

As we pay for our unknown sin

* * *

><p>It turned out that Tyki didn't need to 'take care' of the Order's dogs.<p>

He stopped short, just as the Third Exorcist finished the ones chasing them. Tyki looked at the fallen bodies, the uniform of those beaten, or what bloody parts left of it, tell him that they were mere Finders.

Trevor, Trena or Trevak, whatever the name is, turned to him and bowed. "Please hurry and take Allen Walker, Noah-sama. I'm afraid but others seem to be coming soon."

Tyki eyed the hybrid. The Third could probably handle the Crows and Exorcists separately but both at the same time would be a handful even for her. His eyes fell on her arm, the arm made from Akumas. He finally nodded after a tense minute and started to walk back to the boy.

The Earl would be quite displeased if Tyki should lose a pawn this early.

* * *

><p>After asking Tim to be smaller again, Allen called forth an Ark Gate. This would be the last time. The last time he would ask for help from the Ark, from the Noahs and from—<p>

"Running away?"

Allen halted and looked back where the Noah of Pleasure stood. They stared at each other, gold probing at silver, breaths caught in their throats. A light breeze drafted, shaking the leaves of the surrounding forest and bestowing Allen a whiff tobacco hidden by rich perfume.

"I'm not running away. It's just that I don't belong here anymore." Allen whispered.

The older man remained silent, the act unreasonably fuming Allen's vexation but he was able to stomp upon the starting fires of uncalled for anger. Instead of dignifying the Noah with an answer, Allen turned back to the Gate.

"Think or do you want. I didn't expect you to understand."

"The Earl wanted you to come with us."

Allen stilled at that, unsure of what the other man wanted him to answer.

"…I…don't belong there either."

"You are the 14th."

"I won't give in to _him_."

"Being what you really are is not giving in."

The bottled feelings coalesced into fury, causing Allen to snap his head towards the Noah and stalked nearer.

"I am _not _the Fourteenth!"

"Quite the denial for someone—"

"I! AM! ALLEN! WALKER!"

Somewhere in his mind, Allen knew that he was being hysterical but a major part of his mind didn't want to admit that the Noah was right. That he was just a vessel for someone. That he was just an illusion made by the Fourteenth. That he was just a piece of lost music, a hanging note created and then forgotten.

That he wasn't the one that Mana really loved.

He whirled around and ran almost blindly to the Ark Gate. He felt his body crossing the Ark Gate threshold, felt the artificial wind inside the pure-white town; he smelled the sweet fragrance of scattered flowers, heard that piece of music he always hear inside the Ark.

Only to be tugged by an invisible force back to the forest, back where the leaves rustle nervously, where there was darkness, where there was this faint smell of tobacco overridden by perfume, where golden eyes peered down at him, shocked.

Where Tyki Mikk was.

* * *

><p>It took a moment for Tyki's brain to register what happened.<p>

He gazed down at silver eyes that were as dumbfounded as his, his mind rerunning the scene where the boy tried to embark the Ark.

Only it seems that life has other plans for the boy because the moment he step into it something yanked the boy back into Tyki's…feet.

The flabbergasted look on the boy's face turned into an uncharacteristic glare. The teen quickly got up, moving so fast it reminded Tyki of a feline that was scalded. The young man slowly backed away, baring his teeth in a snarl that made Tyki wonder whether the boy will purr in anger soon.

"What did you do?" the boy hissed, this time reminding Tyki of a cat whose tail he once stepped upon. Tyki cocked his head sideward before smirking, "Why did you jump out the Ark like a scalded cat? And to land at my feet of all places. Did you miss me already?"

He observed with growing satisfaction the way the boy flushed then stuttered. "Wha—what? I didn't do that!"

Tyki felt the wind caress his tumbling locks, the edges of his cape fluttering against his legs. The night breeze also tousled the boy's hair, messing up with the already disheveled hair. Another second ticked by and Tyki's eyes held on the way the white curls flail next to a column of white throat.

"—can't stop me. I appreciate the way you and Roa—"

In contrast to the dim way his ears pick up the boy's speech, Tyki's eyes found a sudden interest with the way the boy's mouth move. Golden eyes followed thin lips open and close, a tongue quickly went out, wetting the chapped orifice.

"—n't need your help!"

His relative consciousness returned as the sight his eyes were devouring vanished. In its stead was a silvery-white mass of hair atop a small set of shoulders. Tyki sighed in grief before realizing that the boy was saying that he didn't need Tyki's assistance, or any Noah's for that matter, and that he have a plan on his own and so on and so forth and started again towards the Ark.

Tyki opened his mouth to snap back, to say that if it weren't for them the boy would be now _joined_ with that Apo-creep, to point out that he was using _their _Ark, to brag that the boy was limping now in fatigue and would soon need Tyki to carry him. He even got the first syllable of the retort out before something flashed under the moonlight.

The thread, or what looks like it, was slackly wrapped around the boy's blackened arm and continued downwards. His eyes traced the glinting path it made towards…Tyki's own left arm. He had the sudden foreboding about the thin, almost invisible, string. But his hands seem to have a life of their own as they gingerly felt the cord.

Tyki felt the younger man's heart skip a beat and heard his breath caught. His own heart sped up n apprehension, _that_ was impossible because they were now meters away…

_This is…_

This time, his fingers tightly clasped the fine line and the familiar burn wiped his remaining doubts away..

_Innocence...?_

* * *

><p>Could this forged curse be mended<p>

To something like a sword wielded?

* * *

><p>So this is Tethered's chapter two<p>

Served quite late to you!

I'm sorry for the delayed update

But real life's keeping me up late!

Fuck my rapping beat that's off

I know you now try not to scoff

All I want to say

In this uniquely silly way

Was for my beloved you

To give me a review!

**PLEASE REVIEW! **


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